(Side note: MrC, because he’s following his brother and sister, is learning these things sooner than they did.)

OliverKitty…we have to lock him in a room, because he will jump on breakfast table, and start eating their food if his morning treat (with sauce, and medicine) isn’t ready. SophieKitty just patiently waits in the kitchen as soon as I’m awake, staring, waiting for Oliver to get his meds, so she can have her morning wet food. Since he’s been sick, we’ve been givning them wetfood twice a day. He gained back some weight. She stayed level.

MrC and I worked on “only ten each” of flash cards for vocabulary and multiplication. He’s a bit behind where he needs to be in school, and we need to get him caught up for fall. Hoping that as his classmates get the “summer slump” that he will catch up to them. He also got his first kill in FortNite…uh…I’m so proud? (Actually, he was agressive, knocked down their fort, and weakened them with a rocket laucher, then close shoot out with a sub machine gun, then when they were down, finished them by dropping grenade and running. Yes. FortNite is my “video game of the now”.)

MrG and I talked about NBA trades. And wondered why a few idiots would run onto the field during World Cup…and what prison would be like in Russia. (Not good.)

MsS likes a story… I told her my best concert performance ever in England with the youth symphony.

It’s past MyBetterHalf’s bedtime, but she is lost in a book.

We clipped MrOliverKitties nails… which is new, because when he was younger, he happily scratched up wood in MsSqueaky’s room.

PS… Good job, Ms Serena Williams. You play like a mother. (Yes, I am getting a bit emotional because of a swamp juice commercial.)

MrCuddles demonstrated his kung-fu and broke a board with a kick for me

MrGrunty and I played catch while talking about if Mr Westbrook would get the tripple-double record for the season (he did!!!)

MsSqueaky and I went shopping for her very own pocket knife. The BoyScouts issue all third graders a knife, GirlScouts…knives aren’t priority. Took her to sporting goods store. The big and scary looking / military style / hunting style she didn’t want. She ended up with a small SwissArmy knife. The guy at the store was very kind, “take your time, not every knife is for every person, get one that is right for you.”

the evening of Thursday, April 6th… me and the childrens spent a bit of time drawing together at the dinner table.

the morning of Tuesday, April 11th

MsSqueaky first words in the morning “Papa are you feeling better? Is your headache gone?” (Previous night I fell asleep way early with a bad headache.)

MrGrunty was first one awake, and was reading. He seems to have found a good book, and is doing more reading without us asking him to. Then when he saw me, his first words were “can I give Sophie a treat?” Awww…he’s getting more familiar and liking our pets more. Why I remember, when he was a toddler, and Sophie was AFRAID of kids (MsS would grab for her) Sophie-kitty and MrG surprised each other in the hallway, and had a little stand off, neither sure how to react. Sophie then got brave and advanced. MrG fell on his butt. Sophie sauntered past, sashaying her big fluffy tail.

MrCuddles was asking what college he would need to go to to be a “fire fighter, police officer and construction worker.” I encouraged him to start with an EMT training.

Morning of Wednesday, April 12th, on ride to school MrG asked who was going to be in the family book club. We all said “yes” and he was happy that we would participate. I pointed out that we had already read a book as a family, “Ivan” and “HarryPotter” the fourth graders said. “And ‘Goodnight Moon’, I added. They laughed.

<sadness warning>

Wednesday evening, fears from a ominous & vague post on TheFacebook confirmed, an ex-co-worker had committed suicide. We worked together in the kitchen for a few years, he was surly, and loyal to his friends, loved to shock people with his jokes, loved the SuperSonics and heavy metal. I hope and pray, that after “Guido” insulted St. Peter for an hour, then told St. Peter a bunch of offensive jokes for an hour, that Guido was allowed into heaven, so he could finally play with his daughter who was born asleep less than a year ago. I still don’t know what to say. We weren’t close, even back when we worked together. I’m more sad than I would have thought. Sometimes demons win and humans lose. Sometimes it’s not fair. And it’s scary, I have had a pretty good life, how would I react to depression, death of a child, war, debilitating disease, death of a loved one… I dunno. Sometimes people do stupid things. Rest in peace, Guido.

Usually, MrCuddles is not a morning person. The routine, I wake him, gently, softly, taking my time, and he wanders to the living room, cuddles up under a soft blanket, and then is moving about fifteen minutes later. Today, field trip, and his mommy was going on it, so he bounded out of bed, and was ready and dressed right away.

MrOliver-kitty scratched MsSqueaky on the face this morning.

…and…this evening, went to after-care, and MrGrunty was playing Stratego with a couple of first graders. I wasn’t in a hurry, and let them finish the game. He told me after that he didn’t think it would be fun, but actually he had fun playing with them. I told him I was glad that he was playing with little kids, because they like it when big kids play with them. He also told me, “school was fun today, we did writing, I didn’t think I would like it, but I did.”

this evening, MyBetterHalf & I went to the local monthly Democrat meeting.

This morning, MrOliverKitty was snuggled up next to MsS’s pillow. She had a tiny smile as she was rubbing behind his ears when I went to go wake her up.

MrC was cook’s help tonight, peeling & cutting carrots & apples.

MrG had a bit of headache. I tell him there is no need to have a headache, tell your parents, we can give you medicine. But we want to prevent them, let’s try a bit more sleep, a bit more water, and maybe less direct dry-forced air into your room.

This morning, MrCuddles and I went to South Seattle to go to a kid’s workshop at a local lumber store. He seemed to enjoy the hammering. While this was happening, MyBetterHalf took MrGrunty to his baseball practice, and then went to help MsSqueaky sell her girlscout cookies.

We got them to clean up their rooms with only a tiny bit of complaining.

This afternoon, it was nice to listen to MrG and MrC play with each other,…they were playing trains and cars, then had a snowball fight, then when ran out of things to do, I suggested “MrG, why don’t you teach your brother how to hit” and they enthusiastically went off to batting practice.

Now, MrG is yelling at his Madden team.
MyBetterHalf is trying to thaw out in the shower whilst singing “Take On Me” by A-ha.
MrC and MsS are playing cars and Shopkins.
Oliver-kitty is hiding/napping under a giant piece of cardboard on MsS’s bed.
Me…I just gave Sophie-kitty a second wet-food dinner. She really likes her fish sauce, and considering we just got home from a seafood dinner, I just couldn’t resist.